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HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 



HUNTER HOLMES MOSS, jR. 

(Late a Representative from West Virginia) 

MEMORIAL ADDRESSES 

DELIVERED IN THE 

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES AND THE SENATE 

OF THE UNITED STATES 

SIXTY-FOURTH CONGRESS 
SECOND SESSION 



Proceedings in the House 
January 28, 1917 



Proceedings in the Senate 
Februar>- 25, 1917 



ll-^(ol3l 



WASHINGTON 
1917 







D. of ^. 
'^AY IS 1918 



TABLE OF CONTENTS 



Page 

Proceedings in the House 5 

Prayer by Rev. Henry N. Couden, D. D 5,8 

Memorial addresses by — 

Mr. George M. Bowers, of West Virginia 11 

Mr. Harry C. Woodyard, of West Virginia 18 

Mr. Edward Cooper, of West Virginia 27 

Mr. Howard Sutherland, of West Virginia 31 

Mr. M. M. Neely, of West Virginia 42 

Mr. John M. Nelson, of Wisconsin 47 

Mr. Leonidas C. Dyer, of Missouri 52 

Mr. Adam B. Littlepage, of West Virginia 55 

Proceedings in the Senate 59 

Memorial addresses by — 

Mr. William E. Chilton, of West Virginia 63 

Mr. John W. Weeks, of Massachusetts 70 

Proceedings of the Bar Association of Wood County, West 

Virginia 37 

Resolution of the West Virginia Society of the District of 

Columbia 41 



[3] 




HON-HUNTZR H_MOSS,>JR- 



DEATH OF HON. HUNTER HOLMES MOSS, JR. 



Proceedings in the House 

Monday, July 17, 1916. 
The Chaplain, Rev. Henry N. Couden, D. D., offered the 
following prayer: 

O Thou great and holy One, whom we worship as the 
Father of all souls, purge us in Thine own way from in- 
ordinate desii'es, encourage every pure thought and 
earnest aspiration which makes for the betterment of the 
home, society. Government, and religious attainments, 
that we may trust and fear not, hope and despair not, 
pray and doubt not, that we may indeed be citizens of 
the kingdom of heaven, ever inspired by the forward 
look. The angel of death has visited this representative 
body and taken away from us a Member who made for 
himself an enviable record in all that pertains to the high 
calling of its membership. We mourn his untimely going 
and our hearts go out in sympathy to the bereaved wife 
and fatherless children. May his memory live to the in- 
spiration of all, and may we all trust in the blessed prom- 
ises of Him who said, " I am the resurrection and the life." 
Amen. 

Mr. Mann. Mr. Speaker, it is my sad and painful duty 
to announce to the House the death of one of its dis- 
tinguished Members, Hunter Holmes Moss, of the fourth 
congressional district of West Virginia, who passed to the 
world beyond on Saturday last. At some subsequent day 
the House will be asked to set apart a time at which 

[5] 



Memohim. Addresses: Representative Moss 

Members can pay their tribute to the life, character, and 
distinguished services of this faithful representative of 
the people, and at present I ask for the consideration of 
the resolutions which I send to the Clerk's desk. 

The Speaker. The Clerk will report the resolutions. 

The Clerk read as follows: 

House resolution 308 

Resolved, That the House has lieard with profound sorrow of 
the death of Hon. Hunter Holmes Moss, a Representative from 
the State of West Virginia. 

Resolved, That a committee of 10 Members of the House, with 
such Members of the Senate as may be joined, be appointed to 
attend the funeral. 

Resolved, That the Sergeant at Arms of the House is authorized 
and directed to take such steps as may be necessary for carrying 
out the provisions of these resolutions, and that the necessary 
expenses in connection therewith be paid out of the contingent 
fund of the House. 

Resolved, That the Clerk communicate these resolutions to the 
Senate and transmit a copy thereof to the family of the deceased. 

The resolutions were unanimously agreed to, and the 
Speaker appointed as the committee on the part of the 
House Mr. Sutherland, Mr. Littlepage, Mr. Neely, Mr. 
Cooper of West Virginia, Mr. Bowers, Mr. Webb, Mr. 
Rucker, Mr. Chiperfield, Mr. Park, and Mr. Mooney. 

The Speaker. The Clerk will report the other resolu- 
tion. 

The Clerk read as follows: 

Resolved, That as a further mark of respect the House do now 
adjourn. 

The question is on the adoption of the resolution. 

The resolution was agreed to; accordingly (at 12 o'clock 
and 10 minutes p. m.) the House adjourned until to- 
morrow, Tuesday, July 18, 1916, at 12 o'clock noon. 



[6] 



Proceedings in the House 



Tuesday, July 18. 1916. 
A message from the Senate, by Mr. Waldorf, one of its 
clerks, announced that the Senate had passed the follow- 
ing resolution: 

Senate resolution 234 

Resolved, That the Senate has heard with profound sorrow the 
announcement of the death of Hon. Hunter Holmes Moss, Jr., 
late a Representative from the State of West Virginia. 

Resolved, That a committee of six Members of the Senate be 
appointed to join the committee appointed by the House of Rep- 
resentatives to take order for superintending the funeral of the 
deceased. 

Resolved, That the Secretary communicate a copy of these reso- 
lutions to the House of Representatives. 

Resolved, That as a further mark of respect to the memory of 
the deceased the Senate take a recess until 10 o'clock a. m. 
to-morrow. 

In accordance with the provisions of the foregoing reso- 
lution the Vice President had appointed as the committee 
on the part of the Senate Mr. Chilton, Mr. Goff, Mr. Br>'an, 
Mr. Oliver, Mr. Sterling, and Mr. Husting. 

Wednesday, December 20, 1916. 

Mr. Woodyard. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent 
for the present consideration of the order which I send 
to the Clerk's desk and ask to have read. 

The Speaker. The Clerk will report the order. 

The Clerk read as follows : 

Ordered, That Sunday, the 28th day of January, 1917, be set 
apart for addresses on the life, character, and public services of 
Hon. Hunter Holmes Moss, Jr., late a Member from the State of 
West Virginia. 

The question was taken, and the order was agreed to. 



[7] 



Memorial Addresses: Representative Moss 

Sunday, January 28, 1917. 

The House met at 12 o'clock noon, and was called to 
order by Mr. Littlepagc as Speaker pro tempore. 

The Chaplain, Rev. Henry N. Coudcn, D. D., offered the 
following prayer : 

Eternal God. Dispenser of all good. Father of all souls, 
our hearts instinctively turn to Thee as we thus assemble 
here to-day to record on the pages of history the life, char- 
acter, and public service of a deceased Member who served 
his people, State, and Nation upon the floor of this House 
with fidelity, courage, and fortitude. We mourn his going, 
but not without hope. We thank Thee for that something 
within that tells us we shall never die, that sometliing 
which tells us that truth shall outlive the stars, that some- 
thing which tells us that love shall be satisfied. We 
mingle our tears with those who knew and loved him, his 
lonely widow and orphan children; and pray that they 
may look forward with imperishable hope to a reunion 
in a realm where sorrows nor death shall ever enter. 
And Thine be the gloiy through Him who taught us that 
good is stronger than evil, that life is stronger than death. 
I know not where His islands lift 
Tlieir frondcd palms in air; 
I only know I can not drift 
Beyond His love and care. 

Amen. 

Mr. WooDYARD. Mr. Speaker, several Members who had 
signified their intention of speaking bore to-day have been 
unexpectedly called away, and I ask unanimous consent 
that any Members who wisli to do so may extend remarks 
in the Record. 

The Si'EAKER pro tempore. The gentleman from West 
Virginia asks unanimous consent that Members who de- 
sire to do so may extend in the Record remarks appro- 
priate to to-day's exercises. Is there objection? 



Proceedings in the Hoi se 



There was no objection. 

The Speaker pro tempore. The Clerk will read the 
special order of the day. 
The Clerk read as follows : 

On motion of Mr. Woodyard, by unanimous consent, 
Ordered, That Sunday, January 28, 1917, be set apart for ad- 
dresses upon the life, character, and public service of Hon. 
Hunter H. Moss, late a Representative from the State of West 
Virginia. 

Mr. Woodyard. Mr. Speaker, I offer the following reso- 
lutions. 

The Speaker pro tempore. The Clerk will report the 
resolutions. 

The Clerk read as follows: 

House resolution No. 474 

Resolved, That the business of the House be now suspended, in 
order that opportunity may be given for tributes to the memory 
of Hon. Hunter H. Moss, Jr., late a Member of the House from the 
State of West Virginia. 

Resolved, That as a special mark of respect to the memory of 
the deceased, and in recognition of his distinguished public 
career, the House, at the conclusion of these memorial exercises 
to-day, shall stand adjourned. 

Resolved, That the Clerk communicate these resolutions to the 
Senate. 

Resolved, That the Clerk send a copy of these resolutions to the 
family of the deceased. 

The Speaker pro tempore. The question is on agreeing 
to the resolutions. 

The resolutions were agreed to. 

The Speaker pro tempore. The gentleman from West 
Virginia [Mr. Bowers] is recognized. 



[9] 



MEMORIAL ADDRESSES 



Address of Mr. Bowers, of West Virginia 

Mr. Speaker: It was not my pleasure to have had a 
long personal acquaintance -vsath my colleague, the late 
Representative Hunter Holmes Moss, Jr. I became a 
Member of this House on the 16th day of May, 1916, and 
he died a few weeks following. It was my pleasure to 
hear him deliver an able, eloquent address during this 
brief period, and I was impressed with his ability, fore- 
sightcdness, and his progressiveness. In that address he 
proved himself to be a man of courage, and although ap- 
parently in great pain, delivered it in a forceful and im- 
pressive manner. He was then walking within the shad- 
ows of death. He knew it, his family knew it, and his 
friends knew it. The sands were then running low in 
the hourglass which timed his life. 

Judge Moss became known by reputation throughout 
the State. West Virginians, like myself, knew him in that 
impersonal way, read with interest and profit of his stand 
on important judicial and public questions, as well as 
the addresses he was accustomed to make to bar asso- 
ciations and gatherings of our people in the western part 
of the State on nonpolitical subjects of considerable im- 
portance at the time of their delivery. We who lived far 
distant from where he lived and labored came to know 
him in this way, and West Vii-ginians were universally 
attracted to him. They admired him for his aggressive 
style of public utterance, the outspoken emphasis of his 
opinions, and the clarity and common-sense texture of 
his judicial decisions. This combination of youth and 
wisdom in the circuit courts of our State was a com- 



[11] 



Memorial Addresses: Representative Moss 

parativcly rare thing even as late as then. West Vir- 
ginia still clung tenaciously up till about that time to the 
archaic idea that old age, with its patriarchal beard, was 
fit only to wear the judicial ermine, interpret the laws, 
and award judgments. Beardless youth, liowevcr wise 
and well poised, however learned in the law and upright 
of character, however abreast of the vanguard in the 
procession of progress of the age, was thought to be 
insufficient for the task. Happily, this is all changed in 
West Virginia. 

The late Representative Moss was, perhaps, the pioneer 
in bringing it about. Wisdom and learning, character 
and industry, worth and merit are now rewarded when 
found in our sturdy young men. They do not have to 
wait until age has whitened their heads and infirmed 
their limbs to receive the Victorian crosses whicli the 
men in all walks of our busy American life have shown 
that they deserve. So it happened — and it happened in 
a remarkably short space of time — that Judge Moss's 
name became known Statewide, and his reputation as an 
able and upright judge likewise. Men like myself, far 
distant from his field of activity, bethought themselves that 
in him there was developing a man who was destined 
to mount to greater heights, to build the structure of his 
public career upon a foundation the corners of which 
would rest upon everj^ boundarj- line of the Common- 
wealth. He possessed the qualities of leadership and 
statesmanship. His was a new and brilliant star in the 
public and official life of West Virginia. That opinion 
is still held. Death itself can not erase it. It alone, in 
our judgment, could and did prevent realization. Judge 
Moss's career, extraordinary as it was, is far from achiev- 
ing the grandeur and fame which it would have reached 
had he been permitted to live out the allotted threescore 
and ten vears. 



Address of Mr. Bowers, of West Virginia 

In these circumstances which I have narrated it will be 
plain to my hearers that when I met Judge Moss here on 
the floor of this House I did not feel that I was meeting 
a stranger. Nor did he, I am glad to state. Our relations 
became immediately friendly and cordial, though we both 
knew at the time that our friendship would be of short 
duration. That, of course, was a subject never mentioned 
between us. In the few times I saw and talked with him I 
found no need to discount the appraisement. 

In his district have died recentlj' many of its most 
prominent men, among them the Camdens, Jacksons, 
Boremans, Shattucks, and Representative Moss's worthy 
competitor, Hon. John M. Hamilton. 

The district which I represent has been stricken, hard 
stricken as it were, within the past few years. No other 
one district in the Nation has lost so many of its valuable 
and distinguished men as this district. 

First — only a few years ago came the death of Senator 
Stephen Benton Elkins — and to whom I know of no better 
tribute than the Wasliington Post on the morning after his 
death. He was a man who made friends on eveiy hand, 
who drew and held them to him, regardless of political 
affiliation, religious creed, or racial characteristics. Of 
him it may be said he was without any enemy. He was 
the apostle of sunshine, the embodiment of good cheer, 
the inveterate foe of pessimism, a supreme optimist who 
saw only the best in everyone and refused to believe ill of 
anyone. It was impossible for him to harbor a grudge, 
and if ever this sincere, big-hearted man gave offense in 
the heat of debate or political discussion he was quick to 
retract and heal the wound before it began to hurt. In his 
loss the second district and the State of West Virginia lost 
the ablest man of his time and generation. 

He was my friend and I loved him. He represented the 
highest type of American citizenship and American states- 
manship. 

[13] 



Memorial Addresses: Representative Moss 

But only in the year gone by our losses have been very 
great, for following this came the death of my distin- 
guished predecessor, Hon. William G. Brown, known to 
us all and admired as Junior Brown. 

Brown's ancestors were Scotch. His father was a dis- 
tinguished man, and held many positions of honor and 
trust, was the first Member of Congress from this, the 
second district. Junior Brown followed in his footsteps, 
was three times elected a Member of Congress, always 
making himself felt and respected. He was a big-hearted, 
affable, courteous American who possessed a genial smile 
and heart}' handshake that has never been excelled by any 
man. His liberality and generosity were surpassed by no 
man. His remarkable popularity was well deserved, and 
no one was ever more loved or stood higher in the esti- 
mation of his friends than did Junior Brown, of those who 
knew him best and loved him most. He came to the House 
full of the wisdom of experience of dealing with affairs. 
He was a lawj'er, a business man, a statesman, and was 
one of the ripest, strongest men of action in this illustrious 
body. 

Following the week after Mr. Brown's death came that 
of Gov. "William M. O. Dawson. Weak, frail, always weak 
and frail in body, the greatest organizer of his time, and 
one of the ablest men the State has yet produced. " It was 
Gov. Dawson's lot to stand at the focus of many conten- 
tions and to be praised or blamed with that decision which 
is characteristic of interest or passion rather than of rea- 
son or intelligence. With these contentions and judg- 
ments, which time can only read aright from the imperfect 
records of good and evil, I am not concerned. He was 
especially interested in promoting the welfare of the com- 
mon people. Any measure which proposed to increase 
their happiness at once commanded his attention and 
support. The laboring man had no wiser or truer friend, 



[14] 



Address of Mr. Bowers, of West Virginia 

and he gave himself to the advocacy of those lines of social 
and industrial reform, to his judgment combined con- 
servatism with advancement, in that wise proportion 
wliich is essential with healthy growth and real improve- 
ment to society." He was the greatest organizer of his 
time, and history will accord him a place as one of the 
many remarkable men of his State. 

Last but not least of the great men who have lived in the 
second district who have recently passed away is Senator 
Henry Gassaway Davis. Henry G. Davis was one of the 
most notable figures of the State, and one whose works 
and deeds ran current with its history. He died in Wash- 
ington in March of last year and was born during the ad- 
ministration which gave us the Monroe doctrine, making 
his span of life cover almost a century of time. Family 
exigencies required him to begin his life work at the age 
of 13 and for 80 years his activities in private and public 
affairs continued uninterrupted. The governing elements 
in his character were untiring energy, persistency, and 
loyalty of purpose, clear vision, rigid integrity, and an 
abiding faith in the righteousness and results of all his 
undertakings. Others kept pace in the progress of events 
in the wonderful development of West Virginia, but he 
was ever in the forefront and his dominating personality 
made liim a leader of men and measures. He served for 
12 years in the Upper House of Congress, and his daughter 
has the unique distinction of having had a father, husband, 
and son who were Members of the United States Senate. 
Senator Davis's achievements and fame are indelibly fixed 
in the annals of West Virginia, and he well deserved the 
title that was so freely and affectionately bestowed in his 
later years by his appreciative fellow citizens of " the 
Grand Old Man of West Virginia." But to go back to the 
splendid man in whose memorial we are gathered here to- 
day — Judge Moss died in Atlantic City on the afternoon of 

[15] 



Memorial Addresses: Representative Moss 

July 15, 1916. Congress had adjourned over the week-end. 
Word was not received in Washington of his death until 
that night, coming then by the way of his home at Parkers- 
burg. Senators and Members had scattered away to 
various resorts. It was with difficulty that even all the 
Members of the West Virginia delegation could be notified. 
A majority of the Senators and Representatives who 
were designated to attend the funeral services, which were 
to be held on the afternoon of Monday, July 17, could not 
be reached in time for them to fulfill the appointment. 
In consequence, the ofiicial party was composed altogether 
of members of the West Virginia delegation in Congress. 
Thus it was a party of personal friends of the deceased. 
It was shorn of its stiff official character, and I think it 
was all the better. The men of that party were close to 
Judge Moss, had worked side bj' side with him; they ad- 
mired him and they liked him, and felt his death as a 
loss personal to themselves. It was a beautiful July day 
when all that was mortal of our dead coworker and friend 
was laid away in a flower-lined grave in a cemeterj' at 
the edge of the city of Parkersburg, his home. The citi- 
zens thronged the Trinity Episcopal Church, where the 
funeral rites were read and the favorite hymns of the 
departed Congressman were impressively sung by the 
white-robed choir. There was a veritable garden of fra- 
grant flowers surrounding the coffin and the church altar. 
The local bar association, the officers of the local courts, 
and county and city governments were present in a body. 
Outside the church the streets were lined with people, 
young and old, who had known the young lawgiver and 
lawmaker. The very air was laden with tribute and filled 
with tender memories. It was a scene which made itself 
" felt " in the hearts of everyone. I shall never forget the 
impressiveness of it. It was only in the few hours inter- 
vening between the closed grave and the departure of our 



[IG] 



Address or Mr. Bowsers, of West Virginia 

train that that scene became vocal. I have never heard 
such splendid and heartfelt and tender tributes paid to 
any man as I heard fall from the lips of man after 
man in Parkersburg who had known Representative Moss 
from the day of his birth until " The Moving Finger " 
had written the final word of his earthly chapter. 

The loss of Congressman Moss removed from West 
Virginia one of its most promising young men. Young, 
ambitious, cultured, with a career so promising that one 
can not comprehend why he should have been cut down 
in his prime. His passing is all the more pathetic be- 
cause of his children. He met death as, I am told, he 
did every problem of his boyhood and youth, with a 
smile, a stout heart, and with a consciousness that he 
had faithfully and well performed his duty. To his be- 
loved wife and children, to his devoted mother and sis- 
ter, no sweeter consolation can come than the thought 
gathered from his memorial address to the Elks some 
years ago in his home town: 

There is no death! the stars go down 

To rise upon some fairer shore; 
And bright in heaven's jeweled crown 

They shine forever more. 

And ever near us, though unseen. 

The near immortal spirits tread; 
For all the boundless universe 

Is life — there are no dead. 

Those who have known him best can temper their re- 
gret at his eaily taking off with gratitude to the Giver 
of every perfect gift that he lived among us even for so 
brief a space, and our farewell to him can be the fervent 
wish that the soul of this distinguished West Virginian 
may forever be at peace. It is God's will, so mote it be. 



;i7] 



ArtDRESs OF Mr. Woodyard, of West Virginia 

Mr. Speaker: In the order of Nature — that Nature which 
moves with unerring certainty in obedience to fixed laws— 
Hinter Holmes Moss, Jr., has gone to that repose we call 
death. In the midst of Ms labors, while yet a young man 
by no means at the zenith of his intellectual powers nor 
brilliant yet substantial public career, crowned with 
honors and laden with trophies meritoriously won and 
gladly bestowed, with a future illumined by the white 
lights of promise, this friend and colleague of ours was 
suddenly stricken, and soon thereafter his courageous and 
intrepid soul took wings. 

This House is met to-day to rejoice at the testimony he 
has left us and to commend his life and efforts as worthy 
of serious reflection and emulation. It is a service of 
helpfulness and inspiration to the living, for nothing we 
can say can add to nor subti-act from the lives of our 
honored dead. No words of ours, however profound in 
thought nor how eloquently uttered, no chaplet that our 
hands can weave, no testimony that our personal knowl- 
edge can bring, will add anything to the fame of our de- 
ceased colleague, friend, and comrade that the public 
which knew him best, and which honored him most, will 
not now freely accord. 

Judge Moss — this was the title by which he was ad- 
dressed by his home people and by his constituents — 
represented the fourth congressional district of West Vir- 
ginia in the Sixty-third and in the first session of the 
Sixty-fourth Congress until the day of his death, July .1.5, 
1916. He came to this House at the age of only 38 years, 
abundantly equipped by natural intellectual endowments, 
by oratorical accomplishments, by legal learning, and, 

[18] 



Address of Mr. Woodyard, of West Virginia 

above all, by a broad and versatile experience in public 
life and office which comparatively few men in our coun- 
try obtain at such an early age, and no man among West 
Virginia's public men, dead or living, so far as I have been 
able to discover by searching their biographies, ever had. 
County prosecutor, circuit court judge. Member of the 
National House of Representatives — all within the brief 
span of an even dozen years — these were the successive 
goals achieved by him, the triology of high honors be- 
stowed upon him by an appreciative public as rewards for 
a high order of service performed with as high a degree 
of satisfaction to them. In these three important official 
positions his brilliant mind, his gifted tongue, his lofty 
ideals, his acquired learning, enviable manhood, and in- 
defatigable industry found their opportunity for develop- 
ment, for expression, and for the performance of service 
beneficial to humanity in the county, in the State, and in 
the Nation. 

In this connection I think it should be mentioned that 
Judge Moss represented no small nor remote constituency. 
It was in a populous, modern, industrial city that he 
started to carve out the remarkably successful and bril- 
liant career to which we to-day pay rcvei-ent tribute. 

There was competition there between strong and bril- 
liant men, men older, with larger experience and with 
accumulated honors and dignities, when he stepped forth 
from college onto life's crowded, jostling, and unsym- 
pathetic highway. It was there before, is there now, and 
ever will be to the end of time. It is this knowledge which 
makes his rapid succession of distinguished achievements 
all the more unusual and extraordinary. There was noth- 
ing accidental about his success. It came to him because 
he deserved it, because he worked hard for it, because he 
had the ability and courage to possess it. He was the elect 
among many ambitious and strong men, not by any trick 

[19] 



Memoriai, Addresses: Representative Moss 

of fate, but because those qualities which make for great- 
ness and success in life he possessed in most abundant 
measure. 

Not the least of these was family. Hunter Holmes 
Moss, Jr., was the descendant of distinguished forbears on 
both the paternal and maternal side. The Mosses and the 
Blairs were leaders in the social and professional life of 
their day. They were prominent in the communities in 
which they lived, exercising a benevolent and uplifting 
influence over their fellows, and favorably impressing 
themselves upon the history of their times. It is interest- 
ing to note that Judge Jacob Beeson Blair, grandfather of 
Judge Moss, was one of the first Representatives elected 
from West Virginia to this House, serving in the Thirty- 
eighth Congress, the district he represented then embrac- 
ing all the counties, and numerous others, which many 
years later sent the distinguished grandson here to repre- 
sent them. Judge Blair was one of the founders of the 
State of West Virginia, and his name is linked with the 
procession of events which led to the birth of a new star 
in the galaxy of loyal Union States. 

It may not be inappropriate to mention here as an inter- 
esting historical coincidence that William Gay Brown, 
father of the late William Gay Brown, jr., who was a 
Member of this Congress at the time of his death, March 
9, 1916, and represented the second congressional district 
of West Virginia, was the other one of the first two Mem- 
bers of this House to be elected from the then new-born 
State of West Virginia. As their elders had worked side 
by side in friendly relationship for the welfare of their 
State and their Nation, so the son and grandson with mu- 
tual respect and friendship, both answering the final roll 
call in the house of their Heavenly Father within less than 
four months of each other. 



[20] 



Address of Mr. Woodyard, of West Virginia 

The late Representative Moss was born in Parkersburg, 
W. Va., in the year 1874. His father was a banker, the 
son of a leading phj'sician, who was equally as much of 
a leader as an officer in the Union Army. His mother, 
who survives him, was the daughter of Judge Blair, from 
whom she doubtless inherited her interest in literature 
and her mastery of the art of brilliant conversation, which 
have given her a leading and influential place in the club 
life of her home city, and is an added testimony to the 
advantageous intellectual heritage which fell to the son. 
The boyhood of Representative Moss, with the exception 
of a few years when his parents resided in Salt Lake City, 
was spent in Parkersburg. He attended the public schools 
there, then the State University, where he completed his 
academic and legal studies. 

The honors which he reaped in his student years were 
a forecast of the larger and more distinguished honors 
which were to come to him when he entered upon the 
activities and struggles of his workaday life. He had 
scarcely more than two'years practice at the law when he 
entered upon his political career. Yet, in that short time, 
he had shown such ability as a counselor and such su- 
perior talent as an advocate that it was easy to be seen by 
the people of his native city and countryside that a new 
and brilliant star had taken its place in their firmament. 
Twenty-six years of age found Hunter Holmes Moss, Jr., 
nominated and elected prosecuting attorney for the great 
county of Wood over older men, la\vyers of longer train- 
ing, and officials of proven trustworthiness. 

To this office was now brought an occupant who pos- 
sessed the enthusiasm of youth, tempered with a grasp 
and comprehension which usually only accompanies the 
experience which goes with more mature years. Here 
was a brilliant, active mind, a studious nature, and a 
storage house of restless energy. It was but natural, then, 



[21] 



MEMORiAr. Addresses: Representative Moss 

that there should take place in the administration of the 
affairs of that office a radical departure from the rules 
which had governed its administration for many years 
preceding. The change had not been expected by the 
public, but it came, and succeeding events proved that it 
was welcome. For it was then and there, while admin- 
istering the duties of that office, the foundation for as 
brilliant a career as any West Virginian ever made for 
himself in so brief a period of time was laid. 

There was nothing sensational about it, unless it can 
be said that in that time and in that place an official who 
enforced the laws without fear or favor, whose sense of 
justice was so strong as to be almost a religion with him, 
was a sensation. His devotion to duty was his creed; 
absolute and exact justice to all and everybody alike was, 
it may be said, an obsession; honesty and loyalty were 
the points by which he ever steered his course; true to 
his conscience, true to his oath, and true to his obliga- 
tion to the people who called him to their service— these 
were some of the main groundworks upon which this 
young State's attorney built for himself a monument more 
to be prized and more enduring than the marble one 
which marks his final resting place. He was the youngest 
man, up until that time, who ever held the office of prose- 
cuting attorney of Wood County, and no one before nor 
since has made a record superior to his in administering 
its affairs. 

It is not to be wondered at, then, that before his four 
years' term had wholly expired he was made the nominee 
of his party for the office of judge of the circuit court, 
embracing at that time the counties of Wood, Wirt, and 
Pleasants. He lacked a month or more of the required 
age — 30 — when he received the nomination, but he had 
attained that before the election. He was elected by a 
very large vote of the people. He was the youngest man 



[22] 



Address of Mr. Woody.^rd, of West Virginia 

to be elected circuit judge in tlie State's history. He as- 
sumed the judicial ermine which had been worn by men 
who had grown gray in the public service. Such men 
distinguished in the State's annals as James Monroe Jack- 
son had worn it. 

The great " war governor " of West Virginia, one of the 
first two United States Senators elected from West Vir- 
ginia, the beloved and revered Arthur Ingraham Bore- 
man, had sat upon the bench of that court, had considered 
it as great an honor to round out his great career there as 
his fellow citizens had considered it a great honor to over- 
whelmingly and delightedly acquiesce in his wishes in 
regard to that. The situation offered a supreme test of 
the mentality and character of the young prosecutor. 
How splendidly he stood it, with what exceptional abil- 
ity he met it, with what dignity and learning, iinpar- 
tiality, and justness he administered it, constitute a 
blessed memory for his relatives and friends and a shin- 
ing chapter in the history of West Virginia jurisprudence. 
In the closing year — the eighth — of his judgeship Judge 
Moss was acclaimed so just and so able by the bar and 
by the public that he could have succeeded himself with- 
out opposition, an offer unheard of before or since in 
that circuit. All he had to do was to say the word and 
he would have been unanimously reelected for another 
term of eight years. But another and, perhaps, a higher 
honor was opening up to him then^one which if not 
higher offered duties more to his liking and more suited 
to his active mind and energetic personality. For the 
excitements and strenuosities of political life appealed 
more strongly than anything else to Judge Moss. He liked 
the smoke and the thick of political battle. His reason- 
ing powers and oratorical talents fitted him for the tri- 
umphs of the hustings, and the oppositions and support, 
the noise and the enthusiasm, were the very breath of life 



[23] 



Memorial Addresses: Representative Moss 

to him. His nomination for the Sixty-third Congress came 
easily to him, and his election little less so, although he 
was opposed by one of the most popular candidates the 
Democratic Party had to offer. His reelection to the 
Sixty-fourth Congress over both a Democratic and a Pro- 
gressive opponent was an evidence of the undiminished 
confidence in and admiration for him which the voters 
had so signally given every time they had the oppor- 
tunity to do so. 

Of his labors in this House its membership is well aware 
and duly appreciative, especially those upon the Repub- 
lican side. His record as a public official was known to 
them when he took liis place here among them, and his 
abilities and worth were promptly recognized and suit- 
ably rewarded. This was evidenced by his appointment 
to membership on the Committee on the Judiciaiy at the 
opening of the present Congress, a position of influence 
and importance which relatively few men attain at the 
outset of their second term. Here upon the floor of this 
House, before committees of the Congress, Judge Moss 
stood for the best that there is in life, as he did as public 
prosecutor and judge, as he did upon the lecture platform 
and in private life. He has left his impress for good upon 
this great body. It is entirely reasonable, then, had not 
death cut him down so ruthlessly and so cruelly, to be- 
lieve that even greater success and higher honors would 
have come to him. His meteoric, meritorious, and ex- 
traordinary career amply justifies that belief— an opinion, 
I may say with confidence, which is held by the people 
who gave him their suffrage time and again, and to whom 
his services as a Member of tins House and in the other 
official positions he so ably filled and so brilliantly 
adorned were so pronouncedh^ satisfactorj'. 

And now- may I be pardoned for mentioning personal 
matters as briefly as possible? Judge Moss and myself 

[24] 



Address of Mr. Woodyard, of West Virginia 

were personal friends. We were associated together a 
great deal, especially in promoting the success of the party 
to which we belonged and in whose success we were so 
actively and devoutly devoted. Judge Moss was my 
friend and supporter in the five congressional campaigns 
I made in the fourth district of West Virginia. I appre- 
ciated that help and he knew it. 

When it came his turn to be the candidate of the great 
Republican Party in the fourth district for membership in 
this House I gave him my support as ungrudgingly. He 
appreciated it. Our relations were cordial and friendly. 
We campaigned together, and some adventures of an in- 
teresting character which befell us upon these trips, upon 
one especially which was not without danger though 
fraught with humor after the danger had passed us by, I 
recall as most pleasant memories of our friendship and 
association. I had unbounded admiration for the talents 
and character of Judge Moss, and I am proud of the honor, 
as I am conscious of the added responsibilities of the office 
because of his having occupied it, of being chosen to suc- 
ceed him. His record and memory will be a guide and an 
inspiration to me in taking up the service of our country 
where he was forced by death to lay it down. 

While there is much in the life of Judge Moss to admire, 
there is more in the manner in which he met death, be- 
cause it strikes the chords in the hearts of men which re- 
spond to the touch of heroic deeds. It was in those criti- 
cal, inexorable, relentless days which preceded his passing 
from among us, and at almost the very striking of his 
final hour that the indomitable courage and valor of the 
brave soldier who was his paternal grandfather asserted 
its hereditary dominancy. It was this greatest of all crises 
that come but once to us all which he met with a patience, 
a trust, and a courage which was sublime. No hero ever 
met a braver end, nor died more nobly. With so much to 



[25] 



Memorial Addresses: Representative Moss 

give up, to surrender, which makes life for men worth 
living, he met the final summons with a courage than 
which no mortal man has ever shown greater. 

Hence, to that small circle around his recent heaven 
and home, who could know more of his manliness and 
worth than we do, we say: "Look up, if you can, through 
your tears; try to be as brave as he was, and try to re- 
member—in the midst of a grief which his greatest wish 
for life would have been to help you bear — that he had no 
fear of death nor of anything beyond." 



[26] 



Address of Mr. Cooper, of West Virginia 

Mr. Speaker: In the death of Representative Hunter H. 
Moss, Jr., his wife has lost a devoted husband, his chil- 
dren a loving father, and the Nation and State of West 
Virginia a fearless, capable, and able Representative. 

We loved him in West Virginia because he had the 
ability and courage to advocate and fight for those prin- 
ciples he believed to be just and right. 

While believing in the principles of the Republican 
Party and ever willing to defend it in debate, he was not 
a narrow-minded partisan, and was ever willing to con- 
cede to his opponents honesty of purpose in thought and 
debate. 

Although a Republican in principle, thought, and ac- 
tion. Congressman Moss was a man of independent con- 
viction, progressive in thought, and with judicial tem- 
perament. He was always careful to advocate and vote 
for those principles which, in his opinion and judgment, 
would best promote the welfare and happiness of the 
people of his State and the Nation. 

We diflfered with him sometimes, and in a conflict of 
opinion he no more doubted our sinceritj' of thought or 
purpose than we doubted his honesty of conviction. 

Well do I remember the last time Representative Moss 
stood upon the floor of this House and in a strong, forci- 
ble, and able speech advocated the passage of the ship- 
purchase bill, although a majoritj' of his Republican col- 
leagues registered their votes against that measure. Rep- 
resentative Moss was firm in his conviction that the prin- 
ciple was correct, and while it pained him to differ with 
his Republican colleagues he left the Hall feeling he had 
acted as his constituents would have had him act. 

[27] 



Memoiual Addresses: Representative Moss 

We love and honor in West Virginia the memorj- of 
Hunter H. Moss, Jr., the more because he stood upon the 
floor of this House when the body was frail and weak, 
when life was hanging by a thread, and with determina- 
tion and force expressed himself in favor of the passage 
of a measure which, in his opinion, would best promote 
the interests of the people of West Virginia. 

Because a great majority of his party associates advo- 
cated certain principles of government only appealed to 
Judge Moss when, after a careful study of the principles 
in question, he was convinced of their worth and justice. 
Perhaps his judicial training caused him to weigh mat- 
ters more carefully than he otherwise would have done, 
but justice and right seemed ever to be in his mind when 
deliberating and deciding a disputed question. 

His whole heart and soul seemed wrapped up in his 
congressional duties, his one thought being to give to 
the Nation and to his State his best work upon public 
questions. 

After his speech delivered in the House on the ship- 
purchase bill, his last appearance in the House of Rep- 
resentatives, Judge Moss went to Atlantic City, and with 
his loved ones about him sought rest and health; but it 
was soon apparent his condition was growing daily more 
serious. 

The Sunday before the end came I visited him at his 
hotel. He was too weak to see visitors, but being advised 
I was in the city he insisted that I be allowed to see him. 
I found him on his deathbed, but still with the same 
determination and tlie brave light of hope in his eye, 
although it was evident to me his soul would soon take 
its flight to its Maker. 

I suggested to him that I would be only too glad to look 
after his personal congressional correspondence for him 
and do what I could to take from his mind any pressing 

[28] 



Address of Mr. Cooper, of West Virginia 

matter. He immediately informed me that he was giving 
his personal attention to his congressional correspond- 
ence, and would continue to do so, as it was his desire 
to keep in touch with the people of his district so that 
when he returned to his official duties he would be famil- 
iar with all matters in his district. This showed the de- 
termination of the man, his strong character; and had he 
not been afflicted with an incurable disease, mind would, 
perhaps, have triumphed over matter, and Hunter H. 
Moss, Jr., would have been with us to-day. 

Representative Moss was open hearted, courteous, easily 
approached, and always willing to go out of his way to ac- 
commodate a friend. During my short acquaintance 
with him I took advantage of our friendship and associa- 
tion to learn many lessons from him upon questions of 
public importance. Being a lawyer of ability and having 
had congressional experience I relied upon his judgment, 
which I was convinced was sound and reliable. 

I shall never forget the wealth of information I acquired 
from Representative Moss; and when I return to West 
Virginia and take up my business affairs I shall recall to 
memory the honest, fearless, and determined young states- 
man from the mountains of West Virginia; and as time 
rolls on and my thoughts turn to the many pleasant ac- 
quaintances and associations formed in the Sixty-fourth 
Congress I shall, I know, wish it were within my power 
to turn back the calendar of time in order that I might 
again be given the privilege of being associated with my 
friend. Hunter H. Moss, Jr., in the Sixty-fourth Congress. 

West Virginians genuinely regret the untimely death of 
Representative Moss. Thej^ recognized in him one of the 
best examples of West Virginia's splendid, able, and pa- 
triotic young manhood. They remember the services he 
performed as prosecutor and as judge of the circuit court 
for the State of West Virginia, and later as their Repre- 

[29] 



Memorial Addresses: Representative Moss 



sentative in this great body. They predicted for him still 
greater service for his State and the Nation, all merited, 
because of his ability and loyalty to duty. His sudden 
death, many years before man's allotted time, was a shock 
to them. When we are meeting to-day to pay the last 
tribute to the memory of the departed one we feel we are 
but voicing the sentiments of his constituents in West Vir- 
ginia, and feel they, too, would consider it an honor and 
a privilege to meet here for the purpose of paying their 
respect to the memory of the brilliant student, jurist, and 
statesman. 



[30] 



Address of Mr. Sutherland, of West Virginia 

Mr. Speaker: It seems but a few days since this House 
was assembled upon a similar occasion to pay a tribute of 
respect and affection to the memory of a member of the 
"West Virginia delegation, our late honored colleague, 
William Gay Brown, of the second district of West Vir- 
ginia. Twice within a year, in fact, within a period of a 
few months, has the last final summons to eternal rest in 
the arms of the Almighty been given to members of the 
delegation from our State, each time summoning a man in 
the flower of vigorous manhood, who was valiantly and 
faithfully doing his part as a man and as a public official. 
Our heads arc again bowed in deep sorrow as we shall 
attempt in feeble words to express our estimate of the 
life and character of our late colleague. Judge Hunter 
Holmes Moss, and to express to those near and dear to 
him by family ties words of consolation in the fact that 
we share with them in part the burden of loss they have 
been and are yet enduring. 

Prior to coming to Washington early in April, 1913, as a 
Representative from West Virginia in the Sixty-third Con- 
gress I had not been intimately thrown with my late col- 
league and friend. Representative Hunter Holmes Moss, 
who entered Congress at the same time, although I had 
known him by reputation as a brilliant prosecuting attor- 
ney of one of the large and populous counties of the State, 
containing the city of Parkersburg, and as an honored 
judge of the judicial circuit of which that county— the 
county of Wood — was a part. His close attention to the 
duties of those two positions covering a period of 12 years 
from January' 1, 1901, until January 1, 1913, and the repu- 
tation he had made in them easily gave him, without oppo- 



[31] 



Memorial Addresses : Repkesentative Moss 

sition, in 1912, the nomination for Congress in the fourth 
congressional district of West Virginia. His term in the 
Sixty-third Congress began Marcli 4, 1913, and his active 
service in tliat body began on April 7, a little more than a 
month later. Our association from that time until he was 
called in such an untimely way to enter " that bourne from 
which no traveler returns " was of such a character that 
it gave me a close view of his qualities, both as a man and 
as a public servant. 

He entered ui)on his duties as a Representative from 
West Virginia with zest and became an active force upon 
the floor of this House and in all the other manifold 
duties of a Congressman's life, and at the same time took 
such a part as his duties would allow in the social activities 
of the National Capital. 

I was constantly thrown in such close contact with him 
that I was enabled more and more to appreciate those 
qualities which, at such an early age, had brought him 
such uniform distinction. 

While it is customary and somewhat expected that a 
new Member of this body shall serve a novitiate until he 
has become familiar with the methods and rules of pro- 
cedure, yet the native force and ability of Judge Moss 
made him, soon after becoming a Member of Congress, 
an active factor in its deliberations, and his natural 
quickness of mind and grasp of public questions, his legal 
and judicial training, were destined to put him in the 
very first rank of the active membership of the House 
had he not been thus stricken about the middle of his sec- 
ond term while a Member of the present or Sixty-fourth 
Congress. 

He was at all times conscientious to a degree in the dis- 
charge of every public duty devolving upon him. He 
strove conscientiously to represent in every particular 
the people of his district, and in a larger way to serve the 

[32] 



Address of Mr. Sutherland, of West Virginia 

people of his State and of the Nation. He was attentive to 
the work on the floor of the House, without neglecting the 
routine duties which consume so much of a Representa- 
tive's time, but which duties, being of a less sho^^'y char- 
acter, do not bring him so prominently into the public 
eye. He was always courteous, kind, and helpful to those 
about him, and in every way showed by his life and ac- 
tions among us here that he possessed those sterling quali- 
ties of Christian gentlemanliness which are the flower of 
good breeding and the outcome of a good heart and a 
well-ordered intellect. 

I happened to learn on the very day upon which he 
underwent an operation in Baltimore that the disease 
with which he was stricken was of a necessarily fatal 
character and that he could not possibly expect to live 
many months. 

The shock which this intelligence caused me was one 
of the severest I have ever experienced. While I had 
known that my friend Judge Moss had not for a short 
time been in robust health, yet his youth and energy and 
his correct habits at all times seemed to entitle him to 
live to a ripe old age. When he finally returned from 
the hospital in Baltimore, and after a while resumed Ms 
place on the floor of this House, the display of Christian 
fortitude and manliness was to me daily one of the most 
remarkable exhibitions 1 have ever seen. If at that time 
he realized that he was fatally stricken and must soon 
pass hence, he did not in any way signify to the world 
that this was the case. Later he stated to me and to 
other friends that he was going to make' the best fight he 
could — that the doctors might be mistaken and that he 
might overcome his malady. I watched him discharge, 
under these circumstances, with persistence and regu- 
larity, the duties devolving upon him, and in my experi- 
ence nothing more heroic, more courageous has ever come 



[33] 



Memorial Addresses: Representative Moss 

directly within my notice. He even persisted in attend- 
ing to his duties when to do so must have been a severe 
drain upon his vitality and physical resources, and when, 
if he had saved himself, he might possibly have pro- 
longed his life. 

No hero upon a battle field, no gladiator in the arena, 
no knight of old ever fought a truer, nobler fight with 
an enemy than did Judge Hunter Holmes Moss fight here 
among us with the relentless foe that was facing and 
slowly conquering him. 

He possessed to a marked degree the courage of his 
convictions, and one of his latest acts as a Member of 
this body was to leave his bed of pain and come over here 
to lead the fight in the Judiciary Committee, of which 
he was a member, to have reported out of that commit- 
tee a resolution proposing a constitutional amendment 
to the several States granting equal suffrage to women. 
This was characteristic of the man. 

In his private life, in his relations as son and brother, 
as husband of a devoted and congenial wife, as father 
of an interesting group of children, as a neighbor and 
friend to those who knew him best and longest, and as a 
member of the community in which he had lived during 
his entire life. Judge Moss always rang true and stood 
for all that makes for clean living, lofty ideals, good com- 
panionship, for personal and civic virtue. 

As testimonials to the estimation in which he was held 
in his home community of Parkersburg, I will read edi- 
torials that appeared in two of the papers there — one of 
them of the same and the other of opposite political 
faith: 

[From the Parkersburg Journal of July 17, 1916.] 
CONGRESSMAN MOSS 

The untimely deatli of Congressman Hunter H. Moss, of this 
city, who expired after an heroic struggle to recover from a dis- 
ease with which he was stricken some months ago, removes from 

[34] 



Address of Mr. Sutherland, of West Virginia 

West Virginia one of its most promising young men. Young, 
ambitious, cultured, full of life to the finger tips, to the ordinary 
grief at the loss of any lovable character there is added the sorrow 
that a young man with apparently a career so full of promise 
should be cut down in his prime. 

For those who have known him through his boyhood, his col- 
lege days, on the bench, and in Congress it is hard to understand 
the removal of a personality like his from the activities of life. 

There are those who have asserted that the day of opportunity 
for young men had been engulfed in the maelstrom of combina- 
tion, monopoly, and practical politics, and that only the favored 
few can hope to succeed, but the brief and brilliant career of 
Hunter H. Moss was a refutation of this theory. His passing is 
all the more pathetic because of his cheeriness to the end. He 
met death as he did every problem of his boyhood and youth — 
with a smile, a stout heart, and a spirit unafraid — and when the 
tired eyes glazed Saturday, and the attendants at his bedside filed 
out of the presence of the mystery of life, a light had failed. To 
his beloved wife and children, his devoted mother and sister, no 
sweeter consolation can come than the thought gathered from the 
following beautiful lines quoted by their own cherished dead in 
a memorial address to the Elks some years ago: 

" There is no death ! the stars go down 
To rise upon some fairer shore; 
And bright in heaven's jeweled crown 

They shine forever more. , 

" And ever near us, though unseen, 
The near immortal spirits tread; 
For all the boundless universe 
Is life — there are no dead." 

We who have known him best can temper our regret at his early 
taking off with gratitude to the Giver of every perfect gift that he 
lived amongst us even for so brief a space, and our farewell to him 
can be the fervent wish that the soul of this distinguished young 
West Virginian may forever be at peace. 

[From the Parkersburg Sentinel of July 17, 1916.] 

The news of the death of Representative Hunter Holmes Moss 
caused general sorrow throughout the State. In some respects the 

[35] 



Memorial Addresses: Representative Moss 

career of the Congressman from the fourth district was like that of 
John E. Kenna. Like Mr. Kenna he had high office at the gift of 
the people when young for such honors, and like Mr. Kenna he 
was cut down in the very prime of life, in his busiest hour. 

Few men of Hunter Moss's years could point to so long a 
record of public service. He was elected prosecuting attorney at 
the age of 26, one of the youngest men in the State to hold that 
office, and four years later he was elected circuit judge, again a 
young man for that office, but fully competent by both training 
and experience. In 1912 and in 1914 he was elected to Congress 
after the most hard-fought and closest campaigns the district had 
ever known. 

Judge Moss was born and reared in Parkersburg, his family 
was prominent in the upbuilding of the community, and he loved 
his home town. In local movements for civic betterment he took 
an active part and frequently, when partisan interest clashed with 
what he considered was best for the city or county, he cast parti- 
san interest aside. As a lawyer he was a leader at the West 
Virginia bar, and as an orator his reputation spread over many 
States. 

The home life of Judge Moss was ideal. He believed that salva- 
tion came through the saving grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and 
he never was too busy with temporal alTalrs to give time and 
attention to the needs of the Christian Church. Parkersburg loved 
and honored him as a distinguished son, and mourns because it 
has lost a good neighbor and worthy citizen. 

The public press of the State of West Virginia, without 
regard to partj' lines and without exception, pronounced 
similar encomiums upon the life and public service of our 
deceased friend and colleague. 

I ask unanimous consent to extend my remarks by 
printing an account of the proceedings of the Bar Asso- 
ciation of Wood County, the home county of Judge Moss, 
and the proceedings of the West Virginia Society of the 
District of Columbia. 

The Speaker pro tempore. Is there objection? 

There was no objection. 

The matter referred to is as follows: 

[36] 



Address of Mr. Sutherland, of West Virginia 

[From the Parkersburg Sentinel, July 17, 1916.] 

Tribute of Respect is Paid by Bar — Memorial Meeting for Judge 
Moss Held by Wood's Lawyers — Fitting Eulogy in Resolu- 
xioNs — Associates in Profession Tell of His Sterling 
Qualities 

A very largely attended meeting of the Wood County bar was 
held this morning to pay the last tribute of respect to the memory 
of the late Judge Hunter H. Moss. Judge L. N. Tavenner was 
made chairman of the meeting and Abijah Hays secretary. 

A committee composed of J. W. Vandervort, W. W. Van Winkle, 
and Judge F. N. McGregor was appointed to draft resolutions of 
respect and submitted the following, which were unanimously 
adopted: 

Your committee, appointed to formulate resolutions on the death 
of Hon. Hunter H. Moss, begs leave to report as follows: 

" We assume the task impressed with the tender touch of friend- 
ship, whose bonds are broken. We know that words are futile to 
express the pain we feel, and in the passing of Hon. Hunter H. 
Moss to young American manhood is given an example of what 
may be achieved by a courageous soul even at high noon, before 
his advance has reached the horizon of its glory. Deeds accom- 
plished here in earth can not be measured by the flight of years; 
and he, at the age of 42 years, has been called away crowned with 
earthly honors and reward. 

" Hunter H. Moss, Jr., died in Atlantic City, N. J., July 15, 1916. 
He was born in Parkersburg May 26, 1874. His father was Hunter 
Holmes Moss, his mother Harriett Wilson Blair. His father was 
the son of the late John W. Moss and was for many years engaged 
in banking in Parkersburg, for a time cashier of the Parkersburg 
National Bank, and at the time of his death vice president and 
cashier of the First National Bank of Parkersburg. His mother, 
surviving him, was the daughter of Jacob Beeson Blair, one of the 
first Congressmen from West Virginia, and prominent in the 
formation of the State of West Virginia. 
an able lawyer 

"Graduating from the West Virginia University in 1896 with 
the degree of LL. B., he quickly engaged in the practice of 
law, securing a large practice through his unusual ability and 
extensive acquaintance throughout the State. Recognized as an 



[37] 



Memorial Addresses: Representative Moss 

able practitioner and of analytical mind, he was elected prose- 
cuting attorney in 1900. At the close of his term in 1904 he was 
elected circuit judge, in which position he developed an ability 
remarkable in so young a man, diligently discharging his duties, 
careful in judgment, and seldom reversed on appeals. 

"After leaving the bench he was elected to represent the fourth 
district of West Virginia in the Congress. At the time of his death 
he was in his fourth year of service. He was strong as an advo- 
cate in the law, a good debater, and unafraid to meet an issue, 
whether at the bar or in the political forum. He put his whole 
soul into every case or subject he had. In his decisions from the 
bench he seemed to grasp with a masterly mind the real justice 
of the cause and molded into his judgments and decrees equity in 
its real essence. 

"April 30, 1902, at Parkersburg, he married Anna Baker Ambler, 
daughter of B. Mason Ambler and Nannie B. Ambler. They had 
three children, all living — Ambler Holmes, Hunter Holmes, and 
Ann Gary. 

" He was a distinguished and public-spirited citizen, of exem- 
plary and industrious habits, charitable and chivalric in his 
nature, wise with wonderful sagacity, of infinite tenacity of pur- 
pose, genial and approachable, ever the friend of good govern- 
ment, cultivating the loftiest ideals and governed by the highest 
principles, of the warmest heart, a devoted and loving husband, 
a benign and indulgent father, a loyal and unchangeable friend, 
guided in all his actions by a firm belief in the wisdom of Divine 
Providence; full of honors, cut off in the prime of life, he has 
been gathered to his fathers, a rare man whose memory will ever 
be fragrant with duties performed, flowers that strew his pathway 
of life, and whose death is a public calamity. 

ABLE PROSECUTOR 

" Defending the people for four years, he was one of the ablest 
prosecutors Wood County ever had, holding ever the scales of 
justice; for eight years he administered the law as judge of the 
circuit court, tempered with mercy and enriched with wisdom 
beyond his j'ears. In the field of statesmanship, his second term 
in the Congress of the United States, he has fought for his country 
and the people with work and pen and voice, bold and strong for 
■what he believed to be right. 



[38] 



Address of Mr. Sutherland, of West Virginia 

" If with the impetuousness of youth he engaged in varied lines 
of business and did not meet with anticipated success, yet in no 
line of life or labor was his character smirched or his honor 
tarnished by doubtful deeds. 

" He has been called home, away from mother, wife, children, 
and from us all, his friends; he fought true life's battle, he touched 
deep human hearts, he felt warm the flame that burns on the 
family hearth and fireside, he lived high toward life's ideals, and 
with it all, as father, friend, citizen, lawyer, judge, and statesman, 
his leader and teacher always was our Christ, who interceded on 
Calvary for us all. 

" We tender to his family our sympathy in their sad bereave- 
ment, and recommend that a copy of these resolutions be engrossed 
and sent by our secretary to his wife, and that copies of the same 
be furnished the press of the city and State, and recommend that 
a copy of the same be spread upon the minutes of the courts of 
this county as the memorial of the bar of Wood County to his life 
and works and our tribute to his virtues by those who knew him 
best. 

" We further recommend that the bar attend his funeral in 
a body. 

" J. W. Vandervort, 
" W. W. Van Winkle, 
" F. N. McGregor, 

" Committee." 

REMARKS OF ASSOCIATES 

Before the adoption of the resolutions remarks were called for, 
eliciting a number of heartfelt tributes to the dead jurist. These 
were all characterized by deep feeling, as were the remarks made 
by Judge Tavenner in taking the chair. He said he felt like ask- 
ing leave to remain standing, rather than take the vacant chair 
that so suggested the man who had once occupied it. 

J. W. Vandervort spoke first, saying he had known Hunter H. 
Moss almost from infancy, and had seen him grow and advance 
not only in mind but in worthy ambition, and had seen him 
elected to positions of honor, but in every one of them his first 
care was to see the right embodied in all his acts. 

Mr. Vandervort said, referring to the financial reverses experi- 
enced by Judge Moss in recent years, the one thought uppermost 
in Judge Moss's mind was that all of his property should go to his 



[39] 



Memorial Addresses: Representative Moss 

creditors, with nothing reserved for himself but an unsmirched 
honor. No one, said the speaker, could have felt his position 
more keenly, and he had no doubt that the anxieties of this nature 
hastened the young statesman's death. He closed with a tribute 
to Judge Moss as a man of sincere religious convictions whose 
conscientiousness was one of his most prominent characteristics. 

W. M. Strauss spoke feelingly of Judge Moss's student days, 
saying that he never knew a young man of more promise nor one 
in which that promise was more thoroughly fulfilled. Only one 
part of Judge Moss's career remained inexplicable to him, and he 
had no doubt that this would have been explained had he lived 
and it would have been clear that his life was a consistent whole, 
and that his later years would have been crowned with even 
greater honors than his earlier ones. 

Judge C. M. Showalter gave some interesting reminiscences of 
Judge Moss as prosecutor when the speaker was associated with 
him as assistant prosecutor and also as partner in civil practice. 
He said Judge Moss's most distinguishing attribute was his ex- 
treme fairness and sense of justice. He took no aSvantage, and 
if he felt that a prisoner was innocent he did not hesitate to say so. 

W. E. White said he felt very keenly the death of Judge Moss, 
as they were friends of long standing and had been closely asso- 
ciated in politics. Attorney White's remarks were also largely 
reminiscential and were full of interest. Several incidents were 
related showing Judge Moss's sense of fair dealing. 

Judge T. A. Brown delivered the next tribute to the dead jurist, 
saying, among other things: "I knew him well and intimately. 
In all positions he stood the crucial test of a man. As a repre- 
sentative of the people of his district he was able and conscien- 
tious. As judge he was honest, fearless, and clean. As a friend 
he was ever loyal and true. Words might be multiplied, but a 
higher tribute than this I can pay to no mortal man." 

H. P. Camden told of his long friendship with Judge Moss, 
which nothing had altered, and paid a high tribute to him as a 
judge. He said his record on the bench was equal to that of any 
ever made in this county and told how business had been facili- 
tated by the systematic methods introduced by Judge Moss. Re- 
ferring to his adverses, the speaker said he fully believed that 
Judge Moss was led into them by taking the advice of men in 
prominent positions on whom he had a right to rely, and he told 
how Judge Moss had declared to him his firm purpose to pay all 

[40] 



Address of Mr. Sutherland, of West Virginia 

that he owed if his life was spared long enough for him to do so. 
This seemed his greatest ambition during the last years of his life. 

It was decided that the bar should attend the funeral in a body 
and announced that all should meet at the courthouse at 4.15 p. m. 
to-day for that purpose. Arrangements were made for a suitable 
floral tribute from the bar. 

I also offer as a part of my remarks the resolutions 
adopted by the "West Virginia Society in the District of 
Columbia, as follows : 

West Virginia Society of the District of Columbia, 

Washington, D. C. 
At a meeting of the West Virginia Society in the District of 
Columbia, held September 1, 1916, the following action was taken: 
" Whereas our friend and fellow member. Hunter Holmes Moss, 
Jr., departed this life July 15, 1916: 
"Resolved, That we, his fellow West Virginians, who have 
shared his friendship, hereby manifest the respect due his memory. 
We recognized in him a shining example of the best manhood of 
our native State and the manifold opportunities it offers to young 
men of a high order of talent and character to obtain the suitable 
rewards they merit. As university student, lawyer, public 
prosecutor, circuit court judge, and Representative in Congress, 
Hunter Holmes Moss, Jr., stood for justice, righteousness, and 
open-handed dealing between man and man. He was always an 
eloquent and forceful advocate of what was best and noblest in 
American citizenship. His life was an open book and his public 
career the brilliance which illumined its pages. We who knew 
him but to respect and love him commend his life as a worthy 
example for the youth of our beloved West Virginia to emulate. 

" Resolved, That we extend our heartfelt sympathy to his family 
in their great loss, and that a copy of these resolutions be for- 
warded to them." 

Henry S. Baker, 

President. 
Wm. T. George, 

Secretary. 



[41] 



Address of Mr. Neely, of West Virginia 

Mr. Speaker : Twice within the space or one short year 
insatiate and all-devouring death has preyed upon the 
West Virginia delegation in the Congress of the United 
States. Again " the silver cord has been loosed, the golden 
bowl broken, the pitcher broken at the fountain, and the 
wheel broken at the cistern." Again we are called upon to 
mourn the loss of one of West Virginia's illustrious sons. 
With bowed heads and heavy hearts we have come to 
this forum to commemorate the memory of the Hon. 
Hunter Moss, late an active, able, and aggressive Member 
of this House. To-day we lovingly hold this sad and 
solemn service as a token of regard for our departed 
friend. We extol his virtues and eulogize the characteris- 
tics that made his life an asset to the Nation and his death 
a loss to the Republic. 

Hunter Moss was a self-made, a self-respecting, and a 
self-controlling man — rich in intellect, great in heart, and 
grand in soul. He was successively elected prosecuting 
attorney of Wood Countj', judge of the fourth judicial cir- 
cuit of West Virginia, and a Member of Congress before 
he had reached the age of thirty-nine. At forty the fame 
he had achieved and the honors he had won proclaimed 
him a man of genius and one of fortune's favorite sons. 

As a public ofTicial he knew no dictator but his con- 
science, no guide but his judgment, and no purpose but 
to serve his country. He walked the rugged road of right, 
and never for a moment wandered from the way to loiter 
in alluring shade, or drink the bacchanalian draught, or 
pluck the idle flowers that fringe the banks wherein temp- 
tation's wooing tide doth ever surge and flow. 
[42] 



Address of Mr. Neely, of West Virginia 

Where duty led he followed, heedless of results, regard- 
less of misfortunes, and thoughtless of rewards. He was 
a model citizen, a devoted husband, a loving father, and 
a faithful friend; a patriot who loved principle more than 
party, a statesman who worshiped at the shrine of truth, 
an official who burned incense on the altar of universal 
good. For his patriotism we honored him, for his states- 
manship we admired him, for his faithful services to his 
country we loved him; and since we loved, admired, and 
honored him in life, we revere him in death, cherish liis 
memory, and strew the brightest of flowers upon his 
grave. We wrap the spotless record of his achievements 
in the golden foil of afiection, entwine it with the silver 
threads of appreciation, and store it in the spacious vault 
of the heart to be treasured there until we, too, return to 
silent dust. Midway between the daylight and the dark, 
midway between the dews of May and December's cold 
and surly blasts, while his sun was at the zenith, liis life 
at the fullest, and his hopes at the highest, the marble- 
hearted messenger of death, that knows no mercy and 
feels no pity, sunmioned Hunter Moss to join the count- 
less myriads of the dead. But in the grand total of eternal 
things it matters little when or where one dies. The long- 
est life is but an infinitesimal point in eternity's endless 
line. By the liberal scale of infinity's measurements it is 
but a short step from the first of earth's cradles to the last 
of her graves. 

For reasons that we do not comprehend, for motives 
that we do not understand, it may be just as well for the 
bursting bud to be killed by an early frost as to live to 
become a perfect flower and scent the air with its sweet 
perfume. It may be just as well for man to die in the 
summer time of life as to live until the snows of winter 
frost the hair and chill the thought and freeze the heart. 
At least, we hope that this is true. Without a doubt, a 

[43] 



Memorial Addresses: Representative Moss 

protest, or a fear Hunter Moss " sustained and soothed 
by an unfaltering trust approached his grave like one 
who wraps the draper>' of his couch about him and lies 
down to pleasant dreams." 

Dream on, oh sainted dead, through seedtime and har- 
vest; through sunshine and shadow; through winter's 
storm and summer's calm; dream on until the angelic 
harbingers of the resurrection shall arouse thee from thy 
slumber and usher thee through the pearly gates of Para- 
dise into the imperishable joys of thy Lord. 

Husband, father, friend: 
" Farewell. * * * 
All our hearts are buried with you, 
AH our thoughts go onward with you. 
Come not back again to labor. 
Come not back again to suffer, 
Where the famine and the fever 
Wear the heart and waste the body. 
Soon our task will be completed, 
Soon your footsteps we shall follow. 
To the Islands of the Blessed, 

To the Land of the Hereafter." 

From this memorial exercise the living should learn 
anew a lesson that is as old as sacred histor>\ The lesson 
is this : " It is better to go to the house of mourning than 
to go to the house of feasting, for that is the end of all 
men; and the living will lay it to his heart." A sanctuary 
of sorrow is a crucible in which to purify the soul. May 
our coming to this service not have been in vain. May 
the premature death of Hunter Moss be a constant re- 
minder to us of the serious meaning of that irrevocable 
decree: "Man is born to die." While we are industri- 
ously struggling for fortune and sedulously striving for 
fame; and while we are eagerly endeavoring to "lay up 
for ourselves " diversified " treasures upon earth," let us 

[44] 



Address of Mr. Neely, of West Virginia 

remember that death comes nearer to everyone with 
every fleeting breath; that it comes indifferently, "as a 
thief in the dead of night or as a royal guest at the blaze 
of noon." Let us bear this well in mind, not that our 
days may be consumed with impotent grief or our lives 
shrouded with dispiriting gloom, but rather that we may 
be impelled to make timely preparation for the coming 
of the inevitable hour in which everj^ man must surrender 
his own soul. 

And when the Angel of Shadow 

Rests his feet on wave and shore, 
And our eyes grow dim with watching, 

And our hearts faint at the oar, 
Happy is he who heareth 

The signal of his release. 
In the bells of the Holy City, 

The chimes of eternal peace! 

With an abiding faith that everything in the universe 
was designed by an unerring architect for some ultimate 
good, with an abiding faith that all who earnestly and 
honestly strive shall eventually wear perfection's crown, 
let us go forth, with hope in our hearts and courage in our 
breasts, to fight the good fight, to finish our course, and 
unqualifiedly to keep the faith. 

And when earth's last picture is painted 

And the tubes are twisted and dried; 

And the oldest colors have faded, 

And the youngest critics have died, 

We shall rest, and faith we shall need it. 

Lie down for an seen or two, 

'Til the Master of all good painters 

Shall set us to work anew. 

And those who were good shall be happy; 

They shall sit in a golden chair, 

They shall splash at a ten-league canvas 

With brushes of camel's hair; 

[45] 



Memorial Addresses: Representative Moss 



They shall have real saints to draw from, 

Magdalene, Peter, and Panl, 

They shall paint for an age at a sitting 

And never get tired at all; 

And only the Master shall praise us. 

And only the Master shall blame. 

And no one shall work for money, 

And no one shall work for fame, 

Bnt each for the joy of the doing. 

And each in his separate star. 

Shall paint the thing as he sees it. 

For the God of things as they are. 



[46] 



Address of Mr. Nelson, of Wisconsin 

Mr. Speaker: "With genuine regard for the memory of 
Hunter Holmes Moss, Jr., and sincere sorrow because of 
the untimely taldng away of our associate and friend, I 
wish to place upon the permanent records of the House a 
few words of loving personal tribute to his life and char- 
acter. 

His legislative career was not long, little more than 
three years, and yet such was the powerful impress of his 
personality that his name and fame will endure here 
longer than that of most men who have been privileged to 
sit in this Hall among the leaders of the Nation. 

During the past two sessions of Congress it was my good 
fortune to come into close contact with him, within the 
circle of good-fellowship that prevails in the Committee 
on the Judiciary. Here I learned to know him well and 
to admire greatly his fine qualities of mind and heart. 
Here I saw him in action. Seeking to promote the com- 
mon good, he stood for what was right; despising unfair 
tactics, trickery, and deceit, he was open-minded, consid- 
erate, and sincere; hating every show of arbitrary power, 
he enthusiastically championed the rights of all, the in- 
terests of a common humanity. 

Now that he has left us, and we lament our loss, it is 
with satisfaction we know that, though his thread of life 
was cut off suddenly in the prime of his matured man- 
hood, yet he had achieved a very successful career. 

A study of his life will prove an inspiration to any 
young man who wishes to win his way to high and hon- 
orable distinction. 

Mr. Moss was successful because his life was adjusted 

to his environment; it was in accord with the eternal truth 

of things. He early filled his mind with the learning and 

drilled it with the discipline of school and college. He 

[47] 



Memorial Addresses: Representative Moss 

acquired a mastery of the principles and the practice of 
liis profession. He builded for himself a home, happy in 
the love of wife and children. He won by faithful service 
the confidence, esteem, and affection of his fellow citi- 
zens; and his whole life bore silent witness to a harmoni- 
ous adjustment with Him whose breath is the spark divine 
in every soul. 

The life of Judge Moss was not only conditioned upon 
a harmonious adjustment with the realities of being, but it 
was also progressively directed toward higher ideals. He 
had the onward, forward, and upward outlook upon life, 
the vision of higher things. In a brief and very modest 
semi-autobiographical sketch we read these few self- 
revealing words : " He has always been progressive in his 
ideas and tendencies." His speeches and votes while a 
Member of Congress eloquently illustrate the largeness of 
his ideas, the loftiness of his vision. Those of us who have 
rebelled in the past against the opposite tendency on the 
part of the more conservative to hold back or stand still 
found in Judge Moss a sympathetic associate. In the 
largest and highest sense he believed in the widest and 
the noblest extension of the principle of democracy. 

Not only were his ideas and tendencies progressive, but 
he put his ideas and tendencies into deeds. He achieved 
results. He grew. He developed. He progressed steadily 
from one level of acliievement to some still higher plane 
of attainment. Thus, because he was " progressive in his 
ideas and tendencies," he made his way from the common 
school to the university; he passed soon from the position 
of practicing lawyer to the oftice of district attorney, then 
circuit judge, and finally, national lawmaker. He was 
content to remain but one short term on a minor commit- 
tee of the House and then won for himself a place upon 
one of the highest committees of Congress, and here he 
soon won our admiration, esteem, and affection, and we 
accorded to him distinct prominence. 
[48] 



Address of Mr. Nelson, of Wisconsin 

But Judge Moss was not only a progressive, he was an 
aggressive personality. His character was cast after the 
heroic type. He was a fighter. Convinced of the recti- 
tude of his purposes, the sincerity of his convictions, and 
the unselfishness of his motives, he was without fear, 
and therefore he fought bravely for what he thought 
was right. He was guided, however, not only by an en- 
lightened conscience, but also by a clear head. As day 
after day throughout the year we sat around the table 
of the committee discussing either the general princi- 
ples or the details of bills before us, or it may be some 
amendment to the Constitution itself. Judge Moss often 
revealed the fact that he was in possession of an intel- 
lect keen as any blade of Damascus. 

But the elements, conscience and intellect, however im- 
portant these are, do not constitute in themselves alone 
that nobility we speak of in life as the heroic. The es- 
sence of genuine heroism is the spirit of self-sacrifice. 
It is he who courageously faces death to save his fellow- 
men, or risks life to vindicate a principle, a truth, or a 
great cause, the great commanders decorate upon the 
field of battle or the common people crown with the 
laurel wreaths of favor and applause. A more heroic 
public act than that performed by our friend I have never 
witnessed through a decade of service in the House. It 
made a powerful impression upon us, whether we agreed 
or disagreed with his views on the subject of equal suf- 
frage. As to the emancipation of the womanhood of 
America, Judge Moss had definite and strong convictions. 
The famous Susan B. Anthony amendment was pending 
before our committee. It had strong friends, but also 
powerful opponents, both sides equally sincere in their 
convictions. The advocates of the equal-suffrage amend- 
ment were urged to have it reported to the House at the 
earliest possible moment. The committee itself was so 
equally divided that one vote either way would be de- 

92441° -17 i [49] 



jMemorial Addresses: Representative Moss 

cisive. At this time Mr. Moss was stricken with the dis- 
ease that finally proved fatal. For months he lay hover- 
ing between life and death. Skillful physicians could do 
no more than to prolong his life for months, or weeks, 
or days. It fell to me somehow, as a friend of the suf- 
frage cause, to move that the amendment be reported out 
of the committee whenever I was convinced that its 
friends were in the majority. On three different days, 
weeks apart, Mr. Moss responded to the call, most heroi- 
cally drawing upon the last resources of his weakened 
physical strength to attend upon the meetings of the com- 
mittee. We knew, and I believe he knew, that his days 
were few, yet he fought as bravely for a favorable report 
as if he were to enjoy the ultimate triumph of the suf- 
frage cause in the years to come. 

Having received the smiimons from that " undiscovered 
country " whence no traveler returns, Judge Moss had not 
lost interest in the struggles and the aspirations of liis 
fellow beings. Such was the spirit of self-sacrifice, the 
unselfish heroism of his conduct that it made an inde- 
scribable impression upon us all, and the event was 
chronicled not only in the publications of the suffrage 
associations with grateful appreciation, but was also re- 
ported with admiration and praise in the press of the 
country. 

Seeking as I now do to interpret the life of my friend, 
I see him, I hear him, in these words of one to me un- 
known : 

I live for those who love me. 

And those who know me true, 

For the heaven that smiles ahove me 

And awaits my spirit, too; 

For the wrongs that need resistance, 

For the cause that needs assistance, 

For the future in the distance, 

And the good that I can do. 

[50] 



Address of Mr. Nelson, of Wisconsin 

The life of our friend stands before us — a broken 
column. We believe that it is not the end — only a change. 
With Wordsworth we are constrained to believe, as we 
behold this mystery of mysteries — life and its passing : 

One adequate support 
For the calamities of mortal life 
Exists — one only — an assured belief 
That the procession of our fate, howe'er 
Sad or disturbed, is ordered by a Being 
Of infinite benevolence and power 
"Whose everlasting purposes embrace 
All accidents, converting them to good. 

Mr. Neely assumed the chair as Speaker pro tempore. 



[51] 



Address of Mr. Dyer, of Missouri 

Mr. Speaker: I am sure that I can not with the feeble 
words at my command add anything to what has been 
so beautifully and sincerely uttered touching the life, char- 
acter, and public services of our former colleague. Hun- 
ter Holmes Moss, Jr., by his colleagues from his own be- 
loved State, West Vii-ginia, as well as of those from other 
States of our great Union. 

Knowing him and feeling the great loss that we and the 
country have sustained in his death, I want permission to 
at least echo all that has been so deservedly and fittingly 
said in praise of him. No new words are needed from 
me or anyone to evidence the deserved, loving, esteem in 
which he was held by all who were privileged to know 
him. That which is said here to-daj' may be soon forgot- 
ten, but his colleagues, his loved ones, and his friends will 
remember him with loving admiration to the end. 

Ut sylvae follis pronos mutantur in annos, 
Prima Cadunt; ita verborum vetus interit aetas, 
Et juvenum rita florent modo nata vigentque. 
Debemus morti nos nostraque. 

The gentleman from Wisconsin [Mr. Nelson] has re- 
ferred more directly to the life of Mr. Moss as a legislator. 
It was my honor and privilege as a member of the Com- 
niittee on the Judiciary also to serve on that committee 
with him and to have seen at first hand how strongly he 
felt regarding his duty to the whole people. I recall well 
how he came to the meetings of the committee when im- 



[52] 



Address of Mr. Dyer, of Missouri 



portant matters were up for consideration, and while at 
the very time he was hardly able to get out of his bed. He 
must have known then that he was only for a few weeks 
for this world. Understanding this, he was to the last 
faithful, true, and obedient to his conscience and the 
wishes of the people who sent him to Congress. He was a 
worthy representative of a great people, and it is indeed 
a great sorrow to us all that he should have been taken 
away at so early an age and at a time when his services 
were so greatly appreciated and so greatly needed. 

One of the greatest privileges that comes to us as Mem- 
bers of the House of Representatives is the opportunity to 
meet and associate with men of such sterling worth and 
character. 

Great as is the loss to us, how much greater must it be to 
those who have known him and been associated with him 
all his life? To his family, his friends, and the people of 
the district that he represented I offer my most sincere 
sympathy. Yet there is consolation to them in the fact 
that though he was cut down at an early age, yet he had 
been of inestimable service to his country. He had helped 
and had done more than his part already in the work of 
good government. It is from the lives and character of 
such men that we can point to our great and free Govern- 
ment and to the great good that it has done to the peoples 
of America and of the world, and to what it shall, will, 
and must do in the future. 

We loved and admired him in life. We shall benefit in 
practicing and teaching the principles for which he fought. 
He helped to make the country great. He loved his fellow 
men and he loved his country. He wanted everj'one to 
have an equal, fair, and just opportunity in life. He knew 
the history of America and of the trials and vicissitudes 
that had beset her upon many occasions, and if he were 



[53] 



Memorial Addresses: Representative Moss 

here to-day he would join in the patriotic sentiment of 
Americans generally in saying: 

Thou, too, sail on, O Ship of State ! 

Sail on, O Union, strong and great ! 

Humanity witli all its fears. 

With all the hopes of future years. 

Is hanging breathless on thy fate ! 

We know what Master laid thy keel, 

What workmen wrought thy ribs of steel. 

Who made each mast, and sail, and rope. 

What anvils rang, what hammers beat. 

In what a forge and what a heat 

Were shaped the anchors of thy hope ! 

Fear not each sudden sound and shock, 

'Tis of the wave and not the rock; 

'Tis but the flapping of the sail. 

And not a rent made by the gale ! 

In spite of rock and tempest roar, 

In spite of false lights on the shore. 

Sail on, nor fear to breast the sea 1 

Our hearts, our hopes, are all with thee. 

Our hearts, our hopes, our prayers, our tears. 

Our faith trimphant o'er our fears, 

Are all with thee — are all with thee ! 

Mr. Neely assumed the chair as Speaker pro tempore. 



[54] 



Address of Mr. Littlepage, of West Virginia 

Mr. Speaker: I should feel remiss in the discharge of 
my public duty if I neglected to add my testimony as a 
Member of this body from the State of West Virginia to 
the high character, worth, and nobility of purpose of one 
of our distinguished Members who has died, whose spirit 
has taken its flight across the mystic river of time to 
return no more. I have myself just gotten out of a hos- 
pital, and what I shall say will be extemporaneous. 

For a young man to start in life with all of its vicissi- 
tudes, all its snares and pitfalls, and so conduct himself 
in the community where he was born and reared as to 
command the unbounded confidence and respect of the 
citizens of that community to the extent they elevate him 
to positions of trust and responsibility, as was the case 
with our departed brother, Mr. Moss, must add to our 
faith in the value of having lived. His is an example 
that is worthy of emulation by the young men of the land 
and of public men throughout the Nation and the world. 
That he did well, that he was kind and noble, strong and 
aggressive is testified to by the people of his State. That 
he was above all things honest and reliable must be a 
comfort to his people as it is a reward to his acquaint- 
ances. For him to have struggled along the highway of 
life, you might say, unaided by the power of wealth or 
political influence, and to have attained that high posi- 
tion of respectability and of trust is a reward to us who 
cherish his memorj' and must be a comfort to his people. 

I sincerely appreciate as a citizen of the Commonwealth 
of West Virginia the splendid tributes which have been 
paid to the memory of Hunter Moss, who has traveled all 
the way from the position of prosecuting attorney, circuit 

[55] 



Memorial Addresses: Representative Moss 

judge, and finally rose in life to the second position below 
the Presidency of the United States — that of membership 
in the American Congress, which must be a comfort to 
those who love and revere his memory. 

I should feel remiss also if I did not take this occasion 
to say a word relative to the immediate members of his 
family, who, when they saw his life ebbing away, were so 
kind, so thoughtful, so noble, and so true in their devotion 
to him who has gone but whose memory will ever be 
worthy of their thought and affection. 

He stood high in this House among both Democrats and 
Republicans. He was an independent man and an inde- 
pendent thinker. I saw him arise from his seat on the 
other side of the aisle when his own party was practically 
unanimous in its vote against the ship-purchasing bill. 
I heard his utterances; and while he was faithful to his 
political organization, and while he loved it well, he loved 
his own people and his State more. His State needed the 
benefit to be derived from a bill of that character. It is a 
coal-producing State, and it needs all the ships that can 
be obtained to carr\' its products to other climes. I want 
to say in this presence that he stood up here in this House 
and voted and spoke for his State, for its business men, 
and its people. He was true to them as he was honest 
here. 

The people of his State have suffered a heavy loss, this 
Nation one of its best friends, this House one of its most 
beloved Members. 



[56] 



Proceeoings in the House 



ADJOURNMENT 

The Speaker pro tempore [Mr. Littlepage]. In accord- 
ance with the resohition heretofore adopted, the House 
stands adjourned. 

Accordingly (at 1 o'clock and 43 minutes p. m.) the 
House adjourned until Monday, January 29, 1917, at 12 
o'clock noon. 



Monday, February 26, 1917. 
The committee informally rose; and Mr. Houston hav- 
ing taken the chair as Speaker pro tempore, a message 
from the Senate, by Mr. Crockett, one of its clerks, an- 
nounced that the Senate had passed the following reso- 
lutions : 

Resolved, That the Senate express its profound sorrow on 
account of the death of the Hon. Hunter H. Moss, Jr., late a 
Member of the House of Representatives from the State of West 
Virginia. 

Resolved, That the business of the Senate be now suspended in 
order that fitting tributes may be paid to his high character and 
distinguished public services. 

Resolved, That the Secretary communicate a copy of these reso- 
lutions to the House of Representatives and to the family of the 
deceased. 

Also: 

Resolved, That as a further mark of respect to the memory of 
Mr. Finley, Mr. Tribble, Mr. Brown, and Mr. Moss the Senate do 
now adjourn. 



[57] 



Proceedings in the Senate 

Monday, July 17, 1916. 

A message from the House of Representatives, by J. C. 
South, its Chief Clerk, communicated to the Senate the 
intelligence of the death of Hon. Hunter Holmes Moss, 
late a Representative from the State of West Virginia, and 
transmitted resolutions of the House thereon. 

The Vice President. The Chair lays before the Senate 
resolutions of the House of Representatives on the death 
of the late Representative Moss, of West Virginia, which 
will be read. 

The Secretary read the resolutions, as follows : 

Resolved, That the House has heard with profound sorrow of 
the death of Hon. Hunter Holmes Moss, a Representative from 
the State of West Virginia. 

Resolved, That a committee of 10 Members of the House, with 
such Members of the Senate as may be joined, be appointed to 
attend the funeral. 

Resolved, That the Sergeant at Arms of the House is authorized 
and directed to take such steps as may be necessary for carrying 
out the provisions of these resolutions, and that the necessary 
expenses in connection therewith be paid out of the contingent 
fund of the House. 

Resolved, That the Clerli communicate these resolutions to the 
Senate and transmit a copy thereof to the family of the deceased. 

Resolved, That as a further mark of respect the House do now 
adjourn. 

In accordance with the provisions of the foregoing reso- 
lutions, the Speaker appointed as the committee on the 
part of the House Mr. Sutherland, Mr. Littlepage, Mr. 
Neely, Mr. Cooper of West Virginia, Mr. Rowers, Mr. 
Webb, Mr. Rucker, Mr. Chiperfield, Mr. Park, and Mr. 
Mooney. 

Mr. Kern. Mr. President, I send to the desk the follow- 
ing resolutions and ask that they be read. 

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Memorial Addresses: Representative Moss 

The resolutions (S. Res. 234) were read, considered by 
unanimous consent, and unanimously agreed to, as fol- 
lows : 

Resolved, That the Senate has heard with profound sorrow the 
announcement of the death of the Hon. Hunter Holmes Moss, Jr., 
late a Representative from the State of West Virginia. 

Resolved, That the Secretary communicate a copy of these reso- 
lutions to the House of Representatives. 

The Vice President. The Chair announces as a com- 
mittee on the part of the Senate to attend the funeral of 
Hon. Hunter Holmes Moss, Jr., late a Representative from 
the State of West Virginia, Mr. Chilton, Mr. Goff, Mr. 
Brj^an, Mr. Oliver, Mr. Sterling, and Mr. Husting. 

Mr. Kern. Mr. President, as a further mark of respect to 
the memory of the deceased, I move that the Senate take 
a recess until to-morrow morning at 10 o'clock. 

The motion was agreed to; and (at 6 o'clock and 30 
minutes p. m., Monday, July 17, 1916) the Senate took a 
recess until to-morrow, Tuesday, July 18, 1916, at 10 
o'clock a. m. 

Friday, February 2, 1917. 

Mr. Chilton. Mr. President, I wish to give notice that 
on Saturday, the 24th of February, I will ask the Senate to 
take appropriate action upon the life and character of 
the late William G. Brown, jr., and the late Hunter H. 
Moss, Jr., Representatives from West Virginia in Con- 
gress, who have died during the present session. 

Wednesday, February 21, 1917. 
Mr. Kern. The Senator from West Virginia [Mr. Chil- 
ton] gave notice that on Saturday, the 24th instant, he 
would ask the Senate to take action touching the life, 
character, and public services of the late Representative 
William G. Brown and the late Representative H. H. Moss, 

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Proceedings in the Senate 



of West Virginia. Later the Senator from South Carolina 
[Mr. Tillman] gave notice that he would ask the Senate 
on the same day to take action regarding the death of 
the late Representative Finley. 

The Presiding Officer. If the Senator will pardon the 
Chair, it is desired that he shall ask that the service also 
include memorial addresses upon the late Representative 
Tribble, of Georgia. 

Mr. Kern. I will also include memorial addresses on the 
late Representative Tribble, of Georgia. The Senators I 
named asked me to request unanimous consent that the 
Senate meet on Sunday, the 25th instant, at 2 o'clock in the 
afternoon, to consider resolutions on the death of these 
deceased Representatives. 

The Presiding Officer. Is there objection? 

Mr. Jones. What was the request? 

The Presiding Officer. The request was that the Senate 
hold memorial services for certain deceased Members of 
the House of Representatives on Sunday, the 25th, at 2 
o'clock p. m. Without objection, it is so ordered. 

Sunday, February 25, 1917. 
The Senate reassembled at 2 o'clock p. m., on the 
expiration of the recess. 

Mr. Chilton. Mr. President, I ask that the resolutions 
of the House of Representatives on the death of the late 
Representative Moss, of West Virginia, be laid before 
the Senate. 

The President pi'o tempore. The Chair lays before the 
Senate the resolutions from the House of Representatives, 
which will be read. 

The Secretai-y read the resolutions, as follows: 

In the House of Representatives of the United States. 

Resolved, That the business of the House be now suspended, 
that opportunity may be given for tributes to the memory of 



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Memorial Addresses: Representative Moss 

Hon. Hunter H. Moss, Jr., late a Member of this House from the 
State of West Virginia. 

Resolved, That as a particular mark of respect to the memory of 
the deceased, and in recognition of his distinguished public 
career, the House, at the conclusion of these exercises, shall stand 
adjourned. 

Resolved, That the Clerk communicate these resolutions to the 
Senate. 

Resolved, That the Clerk send a copy of these resolutions to the 
family of the deceased. 

Mr. Chilton. Mr. President, I offer the resolutions I 
send to the desk, and ask for their immediate considera- 
tion. 

The President pro tempore. The Secretary will read 
the resolutions. 

The Secretary read the resolutions (S. Res. 376), as 
follows : 

Resolved, That the Senate expresses its profound sorrow on 
account of the death of the Hon. Hunter H. Moss, Jr., late a 
Member of the House of Representatives from the State of West 
Virginia. 

Resolved, That the business of the Senate be now suspended in 
order that fitting tributes may be paid to his high character and 
distinguished public services. 

Resolved, That the Secretary communicate a copy of these reso- 
lutions to the House of Representatives and to the family of the 
deceased. 



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IVIEMORIAL ADDRESSES 



Address of Mr. Chilton, of West Virginia 
Mr. President: Hunter H. Moss was born in Parkers- 
burg on May 26, 1874; he died at Atlantic City, N. J., July 
15, 1916. He graduated from the University of "West Vir- 
ginia with the degree of bachelor of laws in 1896, when he 
was 22 years old, and at once entered upon the practice 
of his profession and rose rapidly in the confidence of the 
people, the bar, and the judges before whom he practiced 
and was soon recognized as a close student and inde- 
fatigable worker and an advocate of very rare ability. 
Within four years after his graduation from the univer- 
sity he was elected prosecuting attorney of Wood County, 
a position of great responsibility and honor. Wood 
County is one of the richest and most prosperous coun- 
ties in West Virginia and dates its settlement back to 
about the time of the settlement of Marietta, Ohio. As a 
rule, its people are educated and prosperous, and the peo- 
ple of Wood County are noted for the eminent men it has 
produced. 

I call to mind now one of the governors of our State, 
Hon. Arthur I. Boreman, the three Jackson brothers — 
James M. Jackson, who was a Member of Congress and 
for many years circuit judge; Jacob B. Jackson, who was 
governor of his State and one of the leading lawyers of 
the State; John J. Jackson, who was appointed by Lincoln 
as district judge and served in that capacity for over 40 
years; Johnson N. Camden, who was twice in the United 
States Senate from West Virginia; Jacob B. Blair; the 
late Bishop Peterkin, of the Episcopal Church; and Judge 
Okey Johnson, of the Supreme Court In short, it may 



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Memorial Addresses: Representative Moss 

be said that in the old and the new Virginia Parkersburg 
has furnished more than her share of the public men who 
have filled the high offices and accomplished the things 
worth while in the two Commonwealths. In all that time 
its bar has been noted for the ability of its members, and 
now there is no county in the State that has a larger per- 
centage of distinguished men than has the bar of Wood 
County. 

When Mr. Moss assumed the position of prosecuting 
attorney of that county he had to represent the State 
against this able bar of Wood County, and he did it with 
great credit to himself. When he retired he was elected 
circuit judge and discharged the duties of that position 
with signal ability and with absolute impartiality. He 
was recognized as a judge that held the scales of justice 
with absolute fairness, and he retired from that position 
with the entire confidence of the bar and the people whom 
he served. I had the pleasure of appearing before him, 
and I was struck by his courtesy and consideration for the 
members of the bar and his courage and ability. He had 
that peculiar power of convincing lawyers who appeared 
before him that he was trying to find out the truth and 
that he would go wherever the truth led him. 

Upon his retirement from the bench he was elected to 
represent the fourth congressional district in the Sixty- 
third Congress, and was reelected to the Sixty-fourth Con- 
gress. It can thus be seen that he went from one step to 
another in legitimate advancement, and when he was 
called away at the age of 42 years he had been in public 
positions for 15 years, 4 years as prosecuting attorney, 
8 years as judge, and 3 years in Congress. As a Member 
of Congress he showed the same devotion to duty, the 
same industrious habits, and those peculiar qualities 
which made him successful as a prosecuting officer and 
as a judge. He was prompt in his attendance upon com- 



[64] 






Address of Mr. Chilton, of West Virginia 

mittees and his attendance upon the sessions of the House 
and was faithful and painstaking in discharging the varied 
details of business which the people look to a Congress- 
man to attend to. He had patience, eflfectiveness, ability, 
power of analysis, and very rare ability to express him- 
self on his feet. He engaged in the debates upon the floor 
of the House and always acquitted himself to the satis- 
faction of his friends and colleagues. 

While he was a Republican, he did not always follow 
the party when he thought the interests of his people 
demanded a different course. A notable instance of this 
is found in the fact that he supported the shipping bill 
against the wishes of most of his party associates, and 
made a notable address to the House favoring the pas- 
sage of that act. All of us understand that a service of 
a little over two years in either branch of Congress is 
barely sufficient to acquaint one with the rules and the 
general trend of legislation. Indeed, so complicated has 
become the affairs of the Government, so many are the 
subjects dealt with at every session, that a Member of 
either body is not expected in less than four years to 
feel at home. Yet we see Mr. Moss taking prominent 
part in the work of his committees and a distinguished 
part in the discussions of questions upon the floor of 
the House, though his actual service in the House was 
not over three years. His life work, what he accom- 
plished in public places, stamps him as a man of much 
more than average ability. Indeed, it shows that the 
judgment of his friends that he was destined to become 
one of the leaders of his State was well founded. He 
left a record in public life that will be a heritage to his 
children and a beacon light to young men. He demon- 
strated the capacity of young men in public positions to 
discharge high responsibility with distinction and credit. 
He was a young prosecuting attorney, a young judge, a 



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Memorial Addresses: Representative Moss 

young Congressman, yet when called to the discharge 
of the duties of these positions he showed mature judg- 
ment and those solid qualities of mind and heart expected 
only of the mature. 

In 1902 he married Miss Annie Barker Ambler, the 
daughter of Hon. B. Mason Ambler. His father-in-law is 
one of that galaxy who have made Parkersburg noted for 
the ability and the high character of the members of its 
bar. He has never sought office himself, but has been 
contented with the pursuit of his profession. He belongs 
to that large class found in West Virginia who have made 
the legal profession their masters and have eschewed all 
kinds of political preferment, and yet he took pride in 
the achievements and the great success of his distin- 
guished son-in-law. 

When I attended the funeral of Mr. Moss I saw a most 
touching scene. After the funeral I called at the home 
of Mr. Ambler, and there I found him and his wife with 
two widowed daughters and their little orphaned grand- 
children. I never heard an expression of complaint nor 
comment upon the fate which had orphaned their little 
grandchildren and widowed their two daughters. There 
was the true, old-fashioned welcome, the modern home 
surroundings, the quiet Christianlike obedience to the de- 
crees of Providence that convinced me that Hunter Moss 
had been sustained in life by a wife who had character, 
ability, and the true Christianlike spirit, and I have no 
doubt that some of the character of the great father-in- 
law and the lovely mother-in-law permeated the soul and 
life of Hunter H. Moss through his wife and helped him to 
become a strong man while he was yet a boy in years. 
The disease which cut short his years, of course, had been 
sapping his vitality for a long time. No doubt that when 
he entered Congress he had been marked for death and 
was even then struggling against the monster which finally 



Address of Mr. Chilton, of West Virginia 

called him. No one can know the struggles, the will 
power, which enabled him to endure the pain that he must 
have suffered, but there was never a complaint that passed 
his lips. He worked and fought, bearing his cross alone. 

His father was one of the successful bankers and busi- 
ness men of Parkersburg, and his mother was one of the 
family of Blair, distinguished in politics and business in 
the two Virginias. He inherited his liking for a business 
career from his father, his love of public affairs from his 
mother, and his attractive social qualities from both. 

Shortly before his death he had business misfortunes 
of a serious character, but they were nothing for a brave 
spirit to overcome if his life had only been spared. A 
large percentage of business men have serious losses, set- 
backs, even failures, before they finally settle down to 
the safe road which leads to business success. True man- 
hood is helped by misfortune, and it is not to be doubted 
that had he lived the usual span of life he would have 
retrieved his business losses and been as successful in 
business as he was in public affairs. After all, the rules 
of success in anything are not known quantities, and there 
is bound to be an element of chance in everything in life. 
The field of business, like the panorama of politics, is 
filled with surprises and disappointments. For good or 
evil unforeseen circumstances enter into every man's life. 
Every election must witness the disappointment of the 
defeated as well as the shouts of the victorious, and all 
along the road in every business and in official life there 
are those who fall by the wayside, often because of things 
which human endeavor could not arrange otherwise. 
Like Hunter Moss, 1 believe in initiative, genius, close 
application, hard work, energy', persistence, and patience, 
but even these have sometimes failed against the deci-ees 
of fate. Our departed friend never failed at college, nor 
at the bar, nor in politics. Here his social qualities, per- 



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Memorial Addresses: Representative jNIoss 

sonal magnetism, brains, and power of expression were 
the factors of success. 

I saw him many times in the last months of his life. 
There was a pained look upon his face, and it was per- 
fectly evident that there was a depression of spirit which 
no outward effort could conceal. No hei'o upon the bat- 
tle field ever made a braver fight. He was ever strug- 
gling for strength to discharge the duties of the oflice to 
which he had been elected, and it gave one pride in man- 
hood and faith in the race to see his masterful battle for 
life and duty. 

We took him to his last resting place at his home city of 
Parkersburg, in the beautiful valley of the Ohio River, 
and surrounded by devoted friends and relatives, upon 
a beautiful hillside covered with flowers and evergreens, 
we laid him to rest. It is strange that there is always a 
horror of what we call the mystery of death; strange 
that tills ordeal which the billions who have lived in 
the world in the past, the billions yet to come, and the 
millions now living must experience, should be regarded 
as anything but natural. We are born and we live in and 
by the phenomena of death. Death and birth we see in 
the vegetable, the animal, and the mineral kingdom, 
always going on. With every death there is a new life, 
and in every new life there is the seed of death. There is 
nothing to be learned except the lesson that all mankind 
is subject to disintegration; every human being lives un- 
der the sentence of death. The time of execution is the 
only uncertainty. But that which is the common lot and 
which is nature's law can not be an evil and ought not to 
be dreaded. 

In bidding farewell to this wonderful young man who 
left his mark written high in the history of his country 
we can truthfully say that he was an exemplary father 
and husband, a most delightful and lovable companion, a 

[68] 



Address of Mr. Chilton, of West Virginia 

useful public-spirited citizen who filled every position to 
which he was called with marked ability, integrity, and 
fidelity, and that he was a patriot devoted to the interests 
of his State. He did his work well, and liis life is an in- 
spiration to the rising generation. He set a high mark in 
acliievement, and feared none in debate. He walked 
erect among the great with the modesty becoming ability 
which does not dread a test. His enduring monument is 
his life work of successful intellectual achievement. His 
epitaph is his devotion to duty and \he love of his family, 
friends, and constituents. 



Address of Mr. Weeks, of Massachusetts 

Mr. President: It is a genuine, though none the less 
poignant, privilege to be able to pass a word of eulogy 
upon the memory of the late Hunter Holmes Moss, Jr., of 
West Virginia, for in so doing 1 am paying a tribute to that 
type of young American who has done so much in recent 
years to keep the Nation abreast of the times, and to re- 
establish the fact that in tliis country it is worth that 
counts, and not age or artificial position. The rapid rise 
of this young man in public life, and the great promise 
which the future seemed to hold for him, were essentially 
the result of industry and honesty and a native ability 
which made itself apparent to the outside world even be- 
fore he was sent to Washington to represent the fourth 
district of the State of West Virginia. 

The law was the branch of human endeavor with which 
Mr. Moss cast his lot, and at the age of 26 years, because of 
his personality and earnestness, he had been elected 
prosecuting attorney of one of the most important counties 
of his State. His election to this office gave young Moss 
the opportunity that he wanted — an opportunity to put 
into effect the effective execution of law and justice which 
subsequently brought about his rise to an impressive 
judgeship, and, not long afterwards, his election to the 
Congress of the United States. 

It was not my privilege to know Mr. Moss before he 
came to Washington, but it was only a short while after 
he took his seat in the House of Representatives that his 
older colleagues, including myself, became aware of the 
fact that the State of West Virginia had sent an unusual 
young man to Congress — a man who, however new to the 
national field, had brought with him from his own State 

[70] 



Address of Mr. Weeks, of Massachusetts 

the talent of quickly adjusting himself to new circum- 
stances and becoming at once an important factor in pub- 
lic life. Such a talent is as rare in men of years as it is in 
youth, and the fact that Mr. Moss possessed it and exer- 
cised it modestly and gracefully made us confident that 
he was destined to take an important place in the Na- 
tion's political and legislative history. For that reason 
it was, a profound shock to his colleagues, both in the 
House of Representatives and in the Senate, when infor- 
mation of his untimely death reached us. Although our 
loss is great because of his passing, he had already con- 
tributed more richly to the traditions of life than many 
would be able to do in a much longer span of years. But 
when death comes we think only of our loss, and the 
Senate to-day pays tribute to an inspiring memory. 

Mr. Chilton. Mr. President, I ask for the adoption of 
the resolutions which I have offered. 

The resolutions were unanimously agreed to. 

Mr. Chilton. Mr. President, I move, as a further mark 
of respect to the memory of Mr. Finley, Mr. Tribble, Mr. 
Brown, and Mr. Moss, that the Senate do now adjourn. 

The motion was unanimously agreed to, and (at 4 
o'clock and 5 minutes p. m.) the Senate adjourned until 
to-morrow, Monday, February 26, 1917, at 11 o'clock a. m. 



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